Ales Bialiatski: Belarusian authorities “defuse” any activity in society

The situation with human rights in Belarus remains stably bad.

It has been proved by the report on the human rights situation in Belarus by the special UN rapporteur Miklosz Kharaszti. “Radio Svaboda” has been told about that by the chairman of “Viasna” human rights centre, Vice President of the International Federation for Human Rights Ales Bialitski.

Commenting on the report on the situation in Belarus by the UN Special Rapporteur Miklosz Haraszti, Bialiatski agreed to its main conclusion: over the last year the human rights situation in Belarus had not changed considerably.

“I share this thought as well. We simply see that nothing has changed to the better in our country over this period. Everything is stably bad. The regime controls all the spheres of the public life completely, and when any activity emerges on the part of the youth, or independent trade unions, or independent journalists, it is immediately “defused,” the human rights activist noted.

Bialiatski attracts attention to the campaign of administrative prosecution of youth activists and freelance journalists, launched by the authorities. To his mind, it is connected to preparation of law-enforcing agencies in the run-up to the presidential campaign in Belarus.

“One can suppose that the methods of pressure on the society, used over the last year (I mean prosecution of independent journalists, and preventive detentions of public activists), they are to be actively exploited during the election campaign as well. So the tactics of these pinpoint reprisals and control over the situation which is profitable to the Belarusian authorities, is going to be maintained,” the chairman of “Viasna” human rights centre believes.

As for the recent amendments to the legislation on public associations and political parties, noted as an example of a positive trend by Miklosz Haraszti, Bialiatski does not think it is a significant issue.

“Only cosmetic amendments have been made, but the restrictive essence of this law on public associations and political parties remains the same. We see that in the practice: new organisations are not registered, or too few of them are registered with difficulty. Y the number of registered organisations per 1000 citizens we fall behind our neighbours approximately tenfold. These figures speak for themselves– nothing has changed significantly here as well,” the human rights activist said.

It should be noted that the Belarusian authorities refuse to cooperate with Miklosz Haraszti, and do not recognize his mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur.